Originally Posted by
Patsfan
I was arrested in May 2010, for DUI (non accident) in the State of Connecticut. Being my first criminal offense, at the arraignment no please was entered, and the state offered me a pretrial diversionary program, which consisted of alcohol education which I have successfully completed. The state will be dropping all charges at the end of the month. Again, no plea was ever entered, and charges will be dropped, so there is no conviction.
Can I enter Canada, or am I still considered criminal inadmissible?
thanks
Based on my experience, I would say that this should not be a problem. I have several times been extensively questioned by Canadian authorities about any criminal record I might have. They typically started by asking if I had "ever been arrested". I asked them to elaborate -- did they mean "stopped by police," "formally detained," "put in handcuffs", "charged with a violation", "charged with a felony", "tried for a felony", "tried and convicted", "tried, convicted and sentenced"? I noted that I had frequently been detained, harassed, beaten, threatened, etc. by police. I explained that I had been threatened with arrest, handcuffed, ticketed for multiple traffic violations, had bench warrants issued, had things confiscated, charged with all sorts of things, deported, been issued summons, etc. etc. etc., but never been found guilty of anything by a court. After multiple clarifying questions on my part, I was finally able to confirm that they only wanted to know about was anything I had been formally charged with and convicted of. As the answer to that question was "no," I was always admitted.